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Ai Yori Aoshi would be one of my favourite romance focused stories of all time. Lamune is right up there, too. Both are definitely what I would consider beautiful stories, as opposed to say, Lovely Complex, which while an excellent romance, focuses too much on the comedy side to be 'beautiful' . . . but of course, that depends how you define things.

Ai Yori Aoshi had potential, but it soon degraded to typical harem anime. The ending is not exactly satisfying either

While I usually agree with your assessments and suggestions... I have to respectfully disagree on this count.

Spoiler for just in case:

It wasn't typical harem stuff. He always remained loyal to Aoi. It was much like Lamune in that regard... except the other girls didn't know about them, so they were after him. Yet Aoi never went psycho about it =p It was a very touching series, and Kaoru remains my favourite harem lead ever. I usually hate lead males in a lot of anime, actually. He's one of the few I've ever liked.

Your other suggestions, though, are all good. Though I think Gift is just "Da Capo 3/Alternative" =p

Hantsuki is definitely right up there. Iriya is a recent favourite, too. Very touching series.

Ai Yori Aoshi had potential, but it soon degraded to typical harem anime. The ending is not exactly satisfying either

I would disagree that Ai Yori Aoshi was a "typical" harem anime. Despite all the typical harem humor, the core romance between Kaoru and Aoi remained and made this series much more of a romance than almost any other "harem anime" I have ever seen.

I also found the first season ending entirly satisfying. I admit the second season was not quite as good (although I still found the Tina arc especially touching), but the season two ending was not nearly as good as season one.

If anyone did like the anime of Ai Yori Aoshi, I would stronly suggest reading the manga. The english version of the 17th and final volume of that series is due out next month, and the manga brings the whole story or Kaoru and Aoi to an actual climax.

While I usually agree with your assessments and suggestions... I have to respectfully disagree on this count.

Spoiler for just in case:

It wasn't typical harem stuff. He always remained loyal to Aoi. It was much like Lamune in that regard... except the other girls didn't know about them, so they were after him. Yet Aoi never went psycho about it =p It was a very touching series, and Kaoru remains my favourite harem lead ever. I usually hate lead males in a lot of anime, actually. He's one of the few I've ever liked.

Your other suggestions, though, are all good. Though I think Gift is just "Da Capo 3/Alternative" =p

Hantsuki is definitely right up there. Iriya is a recent favourite, too. Very touching series.

I am going to respectfully disagree with that as well

Spoiler:

It started of nicely, before they had to create the artificial harem environment by having them all live in that house. The huge amounts of fanservice does not exactly help either considering the 'serious' tone the story had during the first two or so episodes. It is 100% 'typical harem stuff' past the initial episodes. Him being 'faithful' is no indicator of it being otherwise - in 95% of all harem shows the lead is always 'faithful' (doesn't realistically consider other girls) towards the 'default' girl.

As soon as we have 5 girls living under one roof and after the same guy (+fanservice to boot) it is as harem with stereotypical characters right there
Kaoru ... dense and slow. Not a strong male lead. Aoi is a very bland character as well.

While i consider Ai Yori a decent show, i don't see anything stellar about it.

The best male lead in my books is Haruhiko from Gift. Yuuichi from Kanon is not half bad either, even though some actions earned him a bit of a minus points in my book.

Gift and Da Capo are not that similar, besides the basic plot outline. Da Capo is a full blown harem, Gift is a love triangle. First season of Da Capo is riddled with filler episodes and rather poorly paced. Gift gets straight to the point and is good at it, plus it features on of the best male leads you can get to see in such shows.

If you want a "fitting" ending, then I would recommend against Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora. It's fitting in a way that it's logical, but I don't think that it's what you have in mind, especially the "beautiful love story" part.